


Your Foot Is In the Bin

by April_Showers



Series: Study Buddies Series [1]
Category: The West Wing
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Fluff, High School, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-08-13
Packaged: 2019-06-27 02:02:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15675780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/April_Showers/pseuds/April_Showers
Summary: “Guys,” C.J. announces. “This is Donna. She’s a sophomore who just moved here from Wisconsin. Be nice, and no cheese jokes. I already made all the ones worth telling."Donna meets the group, Josh acts like a dork because she's pretty, and he puts his foot in the bin.The first in a self-indulgent, cliche high school AU one-shot series that is so far from canon it's unreal. Cute romance, fluff, and silly humor ahead.





	Your Foot Is In the Bin

Sam spies C.J. down the hall talking to a peppy blonde two locker groups down from theirs. She looks nervous and fidgets with her black headband but relaxes when C.J. apparently tells a joke and gives her a reassuring smile. Sam obviously can’t hear anything they’re saying as he’s a number of yards away, and Josh and Toby are animatedly discussing last night’s Yankees game. 

“Josh, if you think the Yankees out fielding lineup needs work you have another thing coming.”

“But Perez obviously can’t catch foul balls to save his life, Reed should have traded him out two years ago,” Josh retorts back, leaning against his locker. 

“Uh, guys,” Sam interrupts, tapping Toby on the shoulder. “Who’s that? The girl standing with C.J.” The other boys swivel around and look at C.J. with the blonde, now examining a piece of paper, presumably her schedule.  
Toby shrugs. “I don’t know Sam, a new student? She has an air of confusion and naiveté that can only be present in her first week.”

“Yeah, those were the days,” Josh wistfully jokes. “I can recall a certain someone walking into the girls’ bathroom no fewer than three times the first day.”  
“Hey, signage here is terrible. Someone should really fix that,” Sam counters.

In the midst of reminiscing and ribbing, C.J. and her charge walk over to their group. “Guys,” C.J. announces. “This is Donna. She’s a sophomore who just moved here from Wisconsin. Be nice, and no cheese jokes. I already made all the ones worth telling. Donna,” she readdresses, “these are my friends, Toby, Sam, and Josh. And you already met Carol at the front office."

She smiles shyly and offers her hand to all of them. “Nice to meet you. C.J. said you’re all juniors, so I hope you don’t mind a lowly underclassman tagging along."  
“Of course not, any friend of C.J. is a friend of ours,” Sam smiles. “Tell us about yourself, Donna.” Donna quietly launches into a brief explanation about her life, but Josh didn’t concentrate on any of that. He kept noticing her pretty hair, how nice her blue eyes were, her glowing smile. Josh may have been a great speaker and debater, but Donna’s recent presence deleted every SAT word from his brain beyond “pretty”. He wouldn’t say that, of course. He just met her and his parents taught him some manners, but he was pulled out of his reverie by someone shouting his name repeatedly.

“Josh! I’ve been trying to get your attention. Donna’s homeroom is next to yours, could you possibly walk her there if you can fly out of fairyland?”  
Josh mutely nods his head. C.J. turns to Donna. “I’ll see you at lunch. If you have any questions, ask one of the teachers or someone who looks friendly. Also, tell me if these yahoos give you any funny business.” The group splits their separate ways as the five- minute bell rings.

Donna walks side by side with Josh in a surprisingly familiar rhythm for two people who just met.  
“So, Josh,” Donna begins, shifting her backpack straps awkwardly. “How long have you lived in DC?”  
“About ten years now, I’m originally from Connecticut but my family moved after an incident, then a family friend got my dad a job here, so we moved, and I’m blathering,” he concluded.  
She smiled widely and blushed. “That’s okay, I’m not much of a talker.”  
“Oh, I am. According to my mother and pretty much every teacher here. So, why’d you move here?”

They turn a corner and go up a staircase as the next warning bell rings. Students begin to pick up the pace and Josh has to lightly hold her elbow to avoid being knocked down. Her arm slowly grows warm at the touch and cold when he pulls away.  
“Well, she responds, almost missing the slight contact between them. “My siblings are all older, either in college or working, so my parents wanted to downsize. Mom got a more lucrative pharmaceutical job here, so now I’m here. I like it here so far, but the Metro is confusing. I can’t get around without one of those tourist maps.”  
Josh turns around, walking backward and shoots a smirk. “Not much of a talker? That’s way more than I expected you to say.” He continues to walk backward, slightly swaggering until he stops abruptly. Donna nearly bumps into him but they manage to recover with some grace.  
“Here we are. You’re 216, I’m 215. You must have a last name close to mine.”  
“It’s Moss.”  
“Well, Donna Moss,” he remarks, sticking out his hand for a resounding and joking shake, “this is where I bid you adieu. I’ll see you at lunch?”  
She grins and sticks out her hand. “Of course. I’ll be there.” She turns to enter the classroom but stops herself short. “Also, you have your foot in the recycling bin. Just thought you should know.”


End file.
